Meet Indya! ELLE USA's first trans cover girl

Sex-trafficking victim. Trans person. Runway model. Meet ELLE's latest cover star. 

For the first time in ELLE USA's 34-year-old history, has a trans person of Haitian, Dominican and Puerto Rican descent featured on their cover.

Indya Moore, a breakout TV star, features as the cover star on the mag's June 2019 issue.

'Thank you for having me as your first experience covering a trans person,' Indya wrote on Twitter. 'I know I will not be the last.'

She added: 'So excited to see ELLE leverage their platform to help other talent of trans xp find visibility, and the safe space to be acknowledged and vulnerable in this powerful way.'

A victim of sexual trafficking, the 24-year-old has recounted her turbulent childhood in an interview with the mag.

'A lot of times, when parents over-discipline their children, especially when they're queer, their intention isn't to hurt them,' she told the mag.

'They think they're saving their children from harm. But they don't realise that they're causing harm, that they're doing to their kids exactly what they're afraid of the world doing to them.'

'This June -- I hold a very personal and special, celebratory pride for my intersectional identities, and the ways those who don't or may not share those identity experiences take part in celebrating them too,' she added.

Photographed by Zoey Grossman, the cover has been styled by Charles Varenne.